The Canis Major dwarf galaxy as the progenitor of the Monoceros tidal stream

Abstract

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has recently discovered a coherent ring of stars at low galactic latitude that is believed to be the tidal stream of a merging dwarf galaxy in the Galactic plane (named the Monoceros tidal stream). The existence and location of the core of its progenitor galaxy is still controversial. The best candidate is the Canis Major dwarf galaxy, a distinct overdensity of red stars discovered in the 2MASS survey, but also interpreted as the signature of the Galactic warp viewed in projection. In this paper, we report a variety of new observational evidence that supports the notion that CMa is the remnant of a partially disrupted core of a dwarf satellite. The comparison of the orbit derived from our theoretical model for the parent galaxy of this ring-like structure with an accurate determination of CMa orbit leads to the conclusion that this satellite is the best candidate for the progenitor of the Monoceros tidal stream.